This invention relates to the field of diapers and in particular to reusable diapers made of cloth where the diaper fastener is formed of the diaper material itself.
Many designs of reusable diapers have been proposed in the prior art. In this disclosure, the field has been narrowed by eliminating reference to those prior art diapers requiring various forms of fasteners such as safety pins, straps and buckles, snaps, zippers, and hook and loop pile fasteners such as sold under the Trademark Velcro. This background disclosure is restricted to those prior art diaper designs using either tie strings or the diaper material itself to fasten the diaper about the body of an infant.
In particular, Applicant is aware of U.S. Pat. No. 2,898,912 which issued Aug. 11, 1959 to Adams for an Infant""s Diaper. Adams discloses diaper material cut into an hourglass shape. Tabs extend laterally from the widest portion of the material which forms the back of the diaper. A pocket is formed on the inner face of the diaper for holding an absorbent pad. Slits in the front face of the front portion receive the tabs once wrapped around the sides of the infant. The pair of tabs are inserted in opposed facing relationship through a pair of corresponding slits, and the tabs pulled through the opposite slit so as to tighten the diaper around the waist of the infant.
Applicant is also aware of Canadian patent No. 491,088 which issued Mar. 10, 1953 to Ward. Ward also discloses the use of an hourglass-shaped sheet of diaper material. Lengths of tape extend laterally from the comers of the sheet. Once fitted onto an infant, the lengths of tape are wrapped around the waist of the infant and secured by tying. Cooperating slits provide for sliding one opposed pair of tape ends through the slits so as to bring the tape ends to the front of the diaper for tying. The other pair of oppositely disposed tape ends are wrapped around the waist so as to bring the tape ends to the rear of the diaper. One of the tape ends is then threaded through a fixed loop and the tape ends then tied.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,570,963 which issued to Mesmer on Oct. 9, 1951 for an Infant""s Diaper, teaches a sheet of diaper material having three laterally adjacent sections. Each section of the three sections has a pair of slits in the upper opposite corners of the section so that folding the two outermost sections over onto the inner section aligns the three pairs of slits. The sheet is cut so as to define a generally oppositely disposed pair of tie strings depending downwardly from the outermost sections so that when the outermost sections are folded over onto the inner section, the tie strings criss-cross. The upper folded over portions of the sections, that is, the upper portion of the diaper having the aligned pairs of slits, forms the back of the diaper. The tie strings are pulled up between an infant""s legs so that the ends of the tie strings lay generally diagonally across the infant""s waist. The ends of the tie strings may then be wrapped around the infant""s waist and journalled through the aligned pairs of slits. The ends of the tie strings may then be tied by means of a single loop or knot to secure the front of the diaper to the back of the diaper.
Canadian patent No. 450,197 which issued Aug. 3, 1948 to Grogan for a Diaper Protector discloses, instead of the use of separate rubber pants to cover a diaper, a plastic cloth protector upon which a diaper folded in oblong form may be placed and the two elements secured on the child at the same time. Once again it is taught to use an hourglass shape, and ties formed of tape extending laterally oppositely from two oppositely disposed corners of the sheet, the portion of the diaper therebetween forming the back of the diaper. The opposite end of the hourglass shape is brought up between the legs of the child to form the front of the diaper and the corresponding corners of both ends of the hourglass shape are pinned together. The ties are brought around the waist of the child and tied at the front of the diaper.
Canadian patent No. 420,310 which issued on May 23, 1944 to Herscovici for a Diaper also teaches the use of folding a pre-formed sheet of diaper material so as to bring one end of the sheet up between the legs of an infant and securing the opposite corners of the sheet to one another by passing lengths of tape through corresponding openings and fastening by tying.
Canadian patent No. 413,607 which issued Jul. 6, 1943 to Brown for a Diaper discloses folding a rectangular sheet of diaper material so as to position ties extending laterally from the rectangle with corresponding openings along the sides of the rectangle so that, once folded and one end passed up between the legs of an infant, one end of the rectangle may be secured to the front of the infant by passing the ties from the back of the diaper around the waist of the infant so as to secure the front to the back by tying the ties through the openings.
Canadian patent No. 412,533 which issued May 18, 1943 to Sonnenberg for a Diaper similarly teaches the use of ties extending laterally from a rectangular sheet of diaper material so that once folded to form leg openings, the ties may be secured around the waist of the infant, the ends of the ties cooperating with loops formed on oppositely disposed lateral sheet extensions formed at one end of the rectangle.
Lastly, applicant is also aware of U.S. Pat. No. 1,649,958 which issued Nov. 22, 1927 to Hoyme for a Diaper. Hoyme teaches the use of a rectangle of diaper material which is folded into a triangle. One corner of the rectangle is slitted so as to form elongate cloths bands which, once the material is folded into the triangle, extend from opposite corners of the triangle. The oppositely disposed bands extending from the opposite corners of the triangle may be passed around the waist of an infant so as to engage loops in the remaining corner of the triangle, that is, the triangle vertice, which has been brought up between the legs of the infant. The bands are threaded through the loops and tied together to fasten the diaper onto the infant.
None of these prior art diaper designs exhibit the advantages of the reusable diapers of the present invention as better described below.
In summary, the reusable diaper of the present invention includes flexible first and second sheets, where the first sheet is a sheet of absorbent fabric and the second sheet is a sheet of fabric having only three corners. The comers of the second sheet are generally equally radially spaced about a center of a mid-portion the second sheet. A first corner forms a vertex. The second and third corners form oppositely disposed elongate first and second ends. An axis of symmetry of the second sheet bisects the mid-portion between the first and second ends so as to intersect the vertex.
A first end, or other portion of the first sheet is mounted to a first surface of the second sheet substantially along the axis of symmetry of the second sheet. With the first sheet so mounted to the second sheet, and with both the first and second sheets laid flat and unfolded, a second end of the first sheet opposite the first end extends from the vertex of the second sheet sufficiently so that when the first sheet is folded about a first fold line perpendicular to the axis of symmetry, the second end of the first sheet overlays the first end of the first sheet.
The first sheet extends from the axis of symmetry of the second sheet sufficiently so that the first sheet may be folded about a second fold line parallel to, for example spaced from, the axis of symmetry so that, when a first side edge of the first sheet, is folded about the second fold line, the first side edge of the first sheet overlays an opposite side of the first sheet, for example adjacent an opposite second side edge. At least one loop is mounted to a second surface of the second sheet, opposite the first surface, along the axis of symmetry adjacent the vertex. The loop is sized so as to receive the first and seconds ends of the second sheet therethrough.
In one aspect of the present invention the first sheet may be a parallelogram, advantageously rectangular, although this is not intended to be limiting, the scope of the present invention intended to include other shapes, for example other polygons such as octagons. Further, the second sheet may be bell-shaped and resilient, with the vertex being a vertex of the bell-shape.
Where the first fold line is a first lateral fold line, and the second fold line is a first longitudinal fold line, the first sheet is advantageously sufficiently large so that:
(a) when folded about the first lateral fold line and subsequently folded again about at least one further lateral fold line parallel to the first lateral fold line, and
(b) when folded about the first longitudinal fold line and subsequently folded again about at least one further longitudinal fold line parallel to the first longitudinal fold line,
the first sheet forms a substantially rectangular absorbent pad extending from a waistband edge of the second sheet, where the waistband edge is between the first and second ends of the second sheet, along the axis of symmetry so as to extend to at least the vertex of the second sheet.
In yet a further aspect, the first and second ends of the second sheet are sufficiently elongate so that, when the vertex has been folded over onto the mid-portion so that the edges of the bell-shape between the first and second ends and the vertex define leg-receiving loops for wrapping around the thighs of an infant, the first and second ends may be passed in opposite directions through one loop of the linear array of loops and gently pulled oppositely sufficiently through the loop to:
(a) snug the waistband edge of the second sheet around the waist of the infant, and
(b) allow tying of the first and second ends to one another.